by REERA YOO | @reeraboo
editor@charactermedia.com
Forget cat cafes and dog cafes. It’s the Year of the Sheep, after all. Why not enjoy a cup of coffee and the warm company of a fluffy sheep instead?
Established in 2011, Thanks Nature Cafe may seem like one of the many quaint coffee shops scattered around the Hongdae district of South Korea, but the cafe is actually a home to a pair of sheep. Patrons are allowed to interact with the sheep and are sometimes given hay to feed the animals.
Sheep meets a puppy at the Thanks Nature Cafe.
On slow days, the sheep are allowed to freely roam about the cafe.
Lee Kwang-ho, the owner of the cafe, said his business has experienced a spike in visitors due to the Lunar New Year celebrations. He claims that with so many South Koreans wanting to see sheep during the holiday, his cafe provided a convenient alternative to visiting a sheep ranch in the countryside.
But it’s not just locals flocking to the sheep cafe. Tourists from around the globe have been walking through Lee’s doors.
“I don’t know how this place was known to the world, but I had visitors from all over the world coming to see my sheep, from Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, even some countries I don’t know well,” said Lee.
Lee Kwang-ho with his sheep at the sheep ranch
Unlike most pet cafes, the sheep aren’t looking for adoptions as they are Lee’s full-time companions. Lee diligently takes care of the sheep by keeping their pen clean, bathing them and taking them out for walks for exercise.
Unfortunately, the fluffy hosts only reside at the cafe during the fall and winter months due to their thick coats. Once the weather starts getting humid, Lee sends the sheep back to the sheep ranch and brings back a new pair of woolies around September.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDNYNwBCM2w
To learn more about Thanks Nature Cafe, visit its Facebook Page.
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Photos via Thanks Nature Cafe’s Facebook Page. H/T Rocket News 24
